Conventional brushing of the teeth does not effectively stimulate the gingiva tissue in the thicker gum regions. The gums as well as the thinner gingiva tissues need stimulation by a tool which is designed for massaging.
Regular gentle massaging can improve the health of a person's gingiva tissues. Massaging one or more times a day in addition to the regular teeth cleaning by brushing and flossing seems to produce the best results. Also, the massage should not be so painful or difficult as to discourage regular use of the massaging method.
Many people, particularly older people, have tender and inflamed or swollen gums which lead to various dental problems. Such persons often find teeth cleaning to be painful and difficult which discourages them from diligently practicing good dental hygiene. Regular gentle massaging and stimulating of the gums is beneficial in treating or helping to prevent a person's gums from becoming so tender, swollen or inflamed. Accordingly, a good tool for gently massaging gums which is easy and simple to use is needed.
Even though there are a number of tools marketed for use in gum massage, there is much need for improved devices. Many of the massaging devices doubling as auxiliary cleaning devices have relatively hard, pointed projections. Such devices tend to have long relatively stiff projections spaced far apart to facilitate cleaning between the teeth or to have long soft projections located close together but bendable in order to clean between the teeth. Moreover, those devices designed just for massaging the gums, rather than cleaning, tend to be very small or have very limited ability to reach between the teeth or into the corners of the mouth.
Accordingly, there is need for a tool to have both cleaning and massaging abilities which can reach the gums between the teeth as well as the other gum areas, that will reach the corners of the mouth and that will be large enough to ensure that the massaging task will not take an unreasonable amount of time to complete. Moreover, the massaging tool should be gentle enough on the gums that a person will not find the massaging experience so unpleasant as to be discouraged from using the tool on a daily basis.